Staying active

'Joy of ageing' poetry competition runner-up Joan Sheridan Smith:

The Joys of Ageing

You needn’t bother getting up for work.
You needn’t bother getting up at all.
Put on a dressing-gown if someone calls
and spend all evening staring at the box.

You could forget to shave or clean your teeth
and let what hair you have grow down your neck‚
and eat too much – there’d be no need to check
since nobody would see your growing girth.

That’s if it suits you.  I would rather use
my bus pass for free journeys to the sea.
Provided always they would leave me free
I’d play with grandchildren when I chose.

I’d read‚ to listen to The Week’s Composer’‚
and sing in choirs or join a drama group
or dawdle in the library or a shop.
I’d go for country walks but at my leisure.

I wouldn’t dress in purple – might not suit me.
I’ve no desire to run a noisy stick
along the railings  that’s a dotty trick.
I don’t go in for eccentricity.

There is this bonus. My experience finds me
a little wiser than when I was young
I like to think‚ I’ve kept my sense of fun.
I’ m still the same though years pile up behind me.

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